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When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan Videos

When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan Photos

Movie Info

Musicians from different lands but sharing a common heritage come together for a concert tour that proves as revelatory for the participants as their audiences in this documentary. In 2001, American promoters persuaded five noted bands of gypsy musicians to join forces for what was billed as "the Gypsy Caravan Tour," but while these musicians appealed to many of the same fans, for the most part they had never met before going on the road together. The performers were Taraf de Haidouks, an 18-piece group from Romania whose lineup spans several generations; another Romanian group, the 11-piece horn ensemble Fanfare Ciocarlia; Antonio de Pipa's Flamenco Ensemble, which combines both music and dance in their performances; Maharaja, a Northern Indian group featuring musicians from all sides of Indian society; and Esma Redzepova, one of Macedonia's best and most acclaimed vocalists. As the tour wore on, the artists began to interact both musically and socially, and their different takes on gypsy music began to inform one another in new and interesting ways. Filmmaker Jasmine Dellal followed the tour with a camera crew, and When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan offers a look at the music these artists performed on stage as well as their interaction after the shows and on the road; the film also features individual interviews with the musicians back home after the tour was completed.

Dellal's documentary often seems like a cleaned-up, homogenized version of the chaotic Roma world presented by Gatlif, Kusturica, et al. But even toned down and packaged, the music itself has the power to thrill.

The energy is electric, the camerawork crisp and colourful, the editing note-perfect. . . . for the Roma, music sounds the notes of a harsh, maligned cultural history, making them all the more unforgettable while demanding remembrance, even awe.

Audience Reviews for When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan

½

I wasn't impressed with the music, the musicians in the film nor the style of the documentary. I found it slow moving and repetitive.

James Higgins

½

(Johnny Depp is in this...?) Anyway, this was a nice documentary/musical about the lives of various Gypsy band members as they make their way to the Gypsy Caravan. It's well made and the music is amazing.

Leighton Trent

This is a beautiful film, one of the best documentaries of this sub-genre (music, stranger in a strange land) - and though it spends a lot of time in the "comfort zone", it's always beautiful. Of course, the music and the subjects are very engaging, so it's easy to love.

G Z

Very worthwhile documentary--serves even more as a sociological study than it does about music (outside the fact that music IS so integral to understanding Gypsies).